February 25 – March 4 2017, YOGA RETREAT TEAM

Rachel Wainright – Yoga Instructor

Rachel emanates vitality. She is a dreamer and a doer. She puts thoughts into action. Rachel is the one that puts everything together and keeps it together. She handles all of the million details it takes to offer such comprehensive trainings and retreats. Rachel will ensure you have a life-enhancing and enjoyable experience.

Rachel whole-heartedly believes in the transformative power of yoga. Yoga has given her the tools to meet the inevitable difficulties of life with a measure of acceptance, openness, trust and LOVE. Rachel believes mindful movement to motivational music can help shift your perspective to a more positive one and raise your vibration to a higher frequency. She believes that with this practice you will attract a healthier, happier, more fulfilling life. Rachel guides you to move from the inside out, allowing you listen to your sensations and hear your inner intelligence. She playfully inspires you to be adventurous and have an intimate experience connecting to your true natural authentic self. She combines her dance, pilates, and yoga training to create creative fluid flows that strengthen the body, empower the mind, and uplift the spirit.

Jules Wainright – Ambassador

Jules will capture your memories in the making and then email you all the photos/videos. Allowing you to disconnect from your electronic devices and have care-free fun! He enjoys working with his wife, Rachel, on their vision of spreading happiness through Exhale Yoga Retreats. On location, Jules ensures everything goes smoothly, so that you can immerse deeper into your life-enhancing experience!

Ariel Swan – Yoga Instructor

motivates her students to push past their limited beliefs and discover new frontiers of mind and body. She encourages students to strive for their absolute best, yet she meets this motivation with patience and a true desire to help others reach their goals. Ariel has a gift for making each student feel like they are in a private lesson, while uniting her class and their individual energies together. Coming from a dancer and Pilates background she can lead the class through a challenging, sweaty core firing flow but still has the softness to drop into a grounding restorative yin class. Ariels favourite quote is “May your heart be bigger than any challenge you face” ~ Dhyan Vimal and she lives by this each day.

March 20-25, 2017 YOGA RETREAT TEAM

Dr. Sarah Kernan – Professional Chiropractor

Dr. Sarah is local to Ocean City, Maryland and after graduating from Palmer College of Chiropractic she returned to her hometown to practice and join the Optimal Health Chiropractic team in Berlin, Maryland.

Dr. Sarah believes in an integrated approach to health incorporating chiropractic with exercise, and whole food nutrition. Dr. Sarah feels most at home by the sea, loves to travel, is an avid runner, and yogi. Her personal lifestyle habits mirror what she prescribes to her patients, living a balanced pain free life through proactive and preventative methods and diet. Dr. Sarah will work with you one on one to improve spinal and extremity alignment with chiropractic adjustment techniques suitable for you, as well as working through any soft tissue conditions with Dry Needling therapy which is quickly becoming a popular and effective means to achieve measurably improved clinical results in both time and duration.

Chiropractors believe that interference with the body’s muscular, nervous, and skeletal systems impairs many vital body functions and lowers resistance to disease. Chiropractic is a natural form of health care that uses spinal adjustments to correct these misalignments and restore proper function to the nervous system, helping your body to heal naturally. Chiropractic doesn’t use drugs or surgery. Rather, a chiropractic spinal adjustment-the application of a precise force to a specific part of the spinal segment-corrects the misalignment, permitting normal nerve transmission and assisting your body to recuperate on its own.

Myofascial trigger point dry needling is a treatment used to restore proper function to abnormally behaving muscles. Nodules, or knots, and tight bands that develop in the muscle create localized pain or send pain signals to other locations. The affected muscles become locked and cannot function normally, which restricts movement and causes chronic pain. Of the many treatment methods applied to painful muscles, none are quite as effective – fast acting and long lasting – as dry needling. The muscle contracture releases to its normal length, circulation is improved, swelling receded and the pain-causing biochemicals disperse, eliminating their noxious effect on local nerves. Dry needling utilizes sterile, thin monofilament needles, and relief is often rapid with a reduction in pain and improved function.

During this retreat Dr. Sarah asked her like-minded friends Terri and Megan to join her in creating a fun and nurturing environment in which to center the mind and body as well as to take home a wealth of unique experiences and memories.

Megan J Hoeffner – Yoga Instructor

Education: B.A., M.S., CPT, 200hr RYT
Megan began her movement journey growing up studying classical ballet in her youth and throughout her undergraduate career. Upon graduation she began teaching group fitness classes, including yoga. At the beginning, her practice focused around the physical aspects of yoga asana, but after traveling to Santa Teresa Costa Rica and having the opportunity to experience the spiritual and physical aspects of yoga in paradise, she knew this was something she wanted to explore more. Megan completed her 200hr YTT through OM MY YOGA Academy in 2013, and witnessed first-hand the transformational power of yoga. Yoga became more than just a physical practice but a way to view the world and live life, fully aware and present. She is forever grateful for the mind opening experience of her 200hr YTT and is excited to share this energy and love for yoga with her student’s every time she steps on the mat! Megan will be traveling to the town of Ubud in Bali in April 2017 to complete an additional 300hrs of yoga training under the direction of Zuna Yoga, to complete her 500hr YTT.

Megan’s classes are filled with fluid yoga asana flows, beginning with the basic structural foundation of the asana and offering modifications and/or advancements so that each class is perfect for each yogi’s body. Megan brings an extensive knowledge of structural and physical anatomy to the mat as a Certified Personal Trainer and holds a M.S. in Applied Health Physiology. During practice she pays careful attention to alignment, so your practice is safe and educational.

As your guide during practice, Megan encourages exploration and surrender to whatever your body has to offer that day. Each experience on your mat will be a chance to let go of anything your holding onto that no longer serves you and give you the time and space to be YOU! Embrace change, experience challenge, and discover acceptance through your yoga practice.

Terri Street – Massage Therapist

Terri Street has been an esthetician for 19 years and found her gift and passion for massage therapy 9 years ago. Her dream came to fruition 7 years ago when she opened up her wellness studio Atlantic Retreat in Berlin, Maryland.

Terri’s vision is to empower, balance, and de-stress clients of all ages, and to help make a difference in their mind and body connection. Her newest love is Advanced Aromatics, creating organic herbal infusions and aromatherapy synergies to collaborate and enhance her apothecary line and healing practice.

Terri is a warm spirit and gracious listener that exudes good vibrations. During the retreat you have the option to reserve private sessions at Balance or in the open tropical air, with opportunity to request focus on certain trouble spots or total body rejuvenation.

ADDITIONAL INFO

RETREAT ACCOMMODATIONS

FOOD

Purified drinking water and fresh coconut water from our trees are included every day during our retreats. Each day you’ll wake up to a gourmet spread with some of the world’s best coffee, fresh fruit, fresh baked bread, homemade nut milks, and detox drinks. A full Breakfast is included each morning for all guests at the resort and We’ll cater 1 gourmet lunch and 1 gourmet dinner at the Retreat. Our main menu features local flavors and fresh-caught local seafood with an elegant touch. We can accommodate vegan & vegetarian diets as well as any food allergies. Just lets us know what you need. Our chef, Mauro Bernal, was trained in Los Angeles but is native to El Salvador. His “midas-touch” will bring joy to your palette. Mauro constantly surprises us, transforming the simplest ingredients into edible works of art.

SURFING

The surf in El Salvador is nothing short of world-class. We have a great group of surf instructors that have been working with our customers for 10+ years. Guys like Bamba, Pedro, Avión, and Juan Carlos are just a blast to be in the water with. You’ll remember their smiles, energy and great attitudes forever. Apart from great leadership and coaching skills, these guys are phenomenal surfers. We’ll have you surfing quickly, having fun, and improving for your next surf session. We take you to nearby uncrowded beach breaks, where you’ll have the waves to yourself. There you can practice and hone your skills before testing what you’ve learned at our famous point breaks!

EXCURSIONS

The retreat includes two awesome trips. We’ll take a 1/2 day and head up to the pristine waterfalls of Tamanique with a packed lunch. Its only a 25 minute drive from the beach but we’ll be hiking so please bring good footwear. It takes about 30 minutes to hike down to the waterfalls from town. On the way, let the locals regale you with stories of years living in a surf paradise. Then dive into the cool pools and take a break from the tropical heat. We’ll be back in time for afternoon yoga or relax time before dinner.

Our second trip is a full-day excursion to hike the Santa Ana Volcano, one of the most iconic volcanic craters in the world! While out there we’ll stop in some of El Salvador’s coolest towns where we can find the best coffee, good eats, and even some nice gifts for friends and family back home.